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BANCROFT    LIBRARY 


NEW  MEXICO. 


TERRITORIAL  BUREAU  OE  IMMIGRATION 


REPORT  AS  TO 


MOKA   COUNTY. 


THIS  REPORT  WAS  ALMOST  ENTIRELY  PREPARED  BY 

WM.  KROENIG,  COMMISSIONER, 
OF  WATROUS,  MORA  COUNTY. 


LAS  VEGAS,  N.  M. 

DAILY  GAZETTE  PRINT. 
1881. 


BUREAU  OF  IMMIGRATION 


OFFICERS. 


L.  BRADFORD  PRINCE, 
RAFAEL  ROMERO, 
L.  SPIEGELBERG, 
JNO.  H.  THOMPSON, 


President. 

Vice-President. 

Treasurer. 

Secretary. 


MEMBERS  AT  LARGE. 


Gov.  Lew  Wallace,  ex-officio,  Santa  Fe.       L.  Bradford  Prince,  Santa  Fe. 
Lehman  Spiegelberg,  Santa  Fe.  T.  F.  Conway,  Santa  Fe. 

William  Kroenig,  Watrous. 


BY  COUNTIES, 


For  Coif  ax— 

Harry  Whigham,  Cimarron. 
For  Dona  Ana — 

A.  J.  Fountain,  Mesilla. 
For  Grant — 

W.  H.  Lawrence,  Silver  City. 
For  Lincoln — 
J.  C.  Lea,  Roswell. 

B.  T.  Ellis,  Lincoln. 
For  Mora — 

Rafael  Romero,  La  Cueva. 
For  Rio  Arriba — 

Samuel  Eldodt,  San  Juan. 


For  Santa  Fe— 

Romulo  Martinez,  Santa  Fe. 

Samuel  Ellison,  Santa  Fe. 
For  San  Miguel — 

Trinidad  Romero,  Las  Vegas. 

J.  H.  Koogler,  Las  Vegas. 
For  Socorro — 

Antonio  Abeytia  y  A.,  Socorro. 

Michael  Fisher,  Socorro. 
For  Taos— 

Anthony  Joseph,  Taos. 
For  Valencia — 

Tranquilino  Luna,  Los  Lunas. 


For  Bernalillio — Wm.  C.  Hazledine,  Albuquerque. 


REPORT 

OF  THE 

COMMISSIONER  OF  MORA  COUNTY. 


Mora  County  is  situated  in  the  north  eastern  part  of  the  Territory,  lying 
immediately  south  of  Colfax  County  and  stretching  from  the  Panhandle  o^ 
Texas  on  the  east,  to  the  mountains  on  the  west.  It  has  an  area  of  about 
3,698  square  miles  or  2,366.124  acres. 

The  population,  according  to  the  last  census  amounts  to  12,000  those  of 
Spanish  ancestry  constituting  by  far  the  larger  number. 

The  prairies  occupy  about  three-fourths  of  the  surface,  the  mountains  with 
the  exception  of  the  "Turkey  Mountains1'  lies  altogether  in  the  western  part 
of  the  county. 

The  altitude  gradually  rises  from  4,000  feet  in  the  extreme  east  to  7,000 
feet,  at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  which  rise  to  an  altitude  "of  11,000  feet,  a 
few  individual  peaks  attaining  a  height  of  12,500  feet. 

The  prairie  lands  are  at  present,  while  thu  mines  are  still  undeveloped, 
the  principal  sources  of  wealth  of  the  county,  furnishing  pasturage  for  75,000 
head  of  cattle.  125,000  sheep,  10,000  goats  and  1,500  horses.  So  far,  only 
the  natural  water  courses,  springs  and  water  holes  have  been  used  to  water 
the  stock  and  consequently  immense  tracts  of  the  best  grazing  lands  are 
only  pastured  when  abundant  rains  till  the  numerous  natural  depressions 
with  water;  experiments  have  proved,  that  in  these  depressions  by  sinking  *vel!s 
water  can  be  obtained  within  a  reasonable  distance.  Wind  mills  could  be  erect- 
|  ed  at  a  small  cost  to  furnish  an  inexhaustable  supply  of  water.  In  this  man- 
ner the  stock  interests  could  be  fully  trebled.  The  sinking  of  wells  would 
also  be  advantageous  in  the  herding  of  stock,  as  they  would  soon  become 
accustomed  to  return  to  the  watering  places.  The  native  breed  of  cattle  is 
of  an  inferior  quality,  but  is  being  improved  by  the  importation  of  graded  bulls 
and  already  entire  herds  of  improved  cattle  can  be  found.  The  original  stock 


bear  well,  and  as  mildew  is  unknown,  all  varieties  of  gooseberries  can  be 
grown  with  certainty  of  success.  The  first  improved  fruit  trees  were  planted 
about  fifteen  years  ago  in  the  central  and  western  parts  of  the  county ;  the  late 
blooming  trees  have  proved  to  be  the  best  and  surest  of  success.  The  Ger- 
man prune  has  produced  fine  crops  of  superior  fruit.  Of  cherries  the  early 
Richmond  is  the  safest.  Peaches  and  apricots  will  only  bear  in  very  sheltered  lo- 
cations It  is  generally  necessary  to  protect  the  orchards  against  the  prevail- 
ing south-west  winds  by  strips  of  quick-growing  trees,  and  it  is  believed  that 
the  white  willow  will  give  the  best  protection  in  the  shortest  time.  On  Red 
River  peaches,  apricots,  pears,  grapes,  and  in  fact  all  the  more  tender  varieties 
of  fruit,  give  abundant  crops. 

Natural  meadows  are  limited,  but  any  piece  of  prairie  land  can.  in  the 
course  of  two  or  three  years,  be  converted. into  a  good  meadow  by  irrigation. 
The  prairies  are  covered  with  gramma  and  blue  joint  grass.  The  latter  forms  a 
very  heavy  sod  and  drives  out  the  gramma.  The  hay  of  the  blue  joint  grass  is 
very  heavy  and  is  considered  of  far  better  quality  than  any  of  the  cultivated 
grasses. 

All  the  mountain  streams  abound  with  trout.  So  far  no  effort  has  been 
made  to  breed  them  artificially,  although  many  fine  springs  offer  all  the  induce- 
ments wished  for.  A  number  of  reservoirs  have  been  made,  and  as  they  are 
fed  by  rivers  which  have  their  sources  in  the  mountains,  some  trout  find  their 
way  into  the  lakes,  where  they  have  been  caught,  weighing  as  much  as  five  and 
a  half  pounds.  Antelopes,  turkeys,  white-tailed  deer,  quails,  sage  hens,  etc.,  are 
still  found  on  our  prairies,  and  in  the  recesses  of  the  mountains  *are  various 
wild  animals. 

The  county  shows  in  many  places  traces  of  former  occupation  by  an  agri- 
cultural people.  Their  mode  of  building  differed  in  so  far  from  that  of  the 
present  Pueblo  Indians  that  their  villages  were  of  smaller  dimensions,  and  as 
in  all  the  excavations  made  earthenware  pots,  filled  with  charred  corn,  were  un- 
earthed, it  may  be  presumed  that  these  villages  were  destroyed  by  the  wild  In- 
dian tribes  of  the  prairies.  All  these  ruins  show  large  quantities  of  pottery, 
well  made  arrow  points  of  flint  and  obsidian,  hand  mills  (metates),  etc.  The 
canons  also  show  the  remains  of  cliff  houses. 

There  is  one  woolen  mill  in  the  county,  which  has  not  been  run  for 
some  time,  owing  to  some  differences  among  the  proprietors.  The  property 
consists  of  a  good  substantial  three-story  stone  edifice,  an  additional  one -story 
adobe  building  roofed  with  tin,  out-houses  for  operatives,  stables,  and  about 
two  hundred  acres  of  land.  The  power  is  supplied  by  an  overshot  wheel. 
The  property  is  for  sale,  and  would  be  a  safe  investment  to  any  one  under- 
standing the  business  ;  it  is  situated  on  the  Mora  river,  four  miles  from  a  rail- 
road station. 

The  mineral  wealth  of  this  county  is  believed  to  be  enormous,  but  bcin"1 
on  the  "Mora  grant"  is  thus  far  undeveloped ;  alluvial  gold  has  been  found 


in  various  places,  also  silver,  copper,  antimony,  iron  and  coal.  A  coal  oil 
spring  has  recently  been  discovered  twelve  miles  from  Mora,  the  county  seat 
of  the  county.  The  prevailing  rock  in  the  eastern  and  central  part  of  the 
county  is  sandstone,  which  is  ve  y  suitable  for  building  purposes,  and,  as  in 
many  places,  limestone  of  superior  quality  crops  out.  There  is  no  lack  of 
building  material.  In  different  parts  around  the  craters  of  extinct  volcanoes 
is  found  lav-*  ( mal  pais)  which  makes  excellent  mill  stones. 

In  beauty  of  scenery,  and  everything  required  to  make  charming  country 
homes,  no  place  on  earth  is  superior  to  this  county.  The  valley  near  Watrous 
attracts  the  attention  of  every  one  entering  the  Territory  from  the  Eist,  and 
the  scenery  around  Mora,  La  Cueva,  Agua  Negra,  Ocate,  etc.,  is  of  surpassing 
beauty.  For  market  gardening  and  fine  farming  these  valleys  present  extraor- 
dinary inducements.  The  termination  of  the  legal  proceedings  necessary  to 
establish  the  title  to  the  Mora  grant  (which  contains  nearly  800,000  acres), 
now  expected  very  shortly,  will  throw  open  to  purchase  and  improvement  large 
tracts  of  admirable  land,  hitherto  unobtainable,  and  this  adds  still  further  to 
the  inducements  offered  in  this  county  to  immigration. 

Yours  respectfully, 

WM.  KROENIG, 
Commissioner  of  Mora  County. 


Makers 


Stockton,  Calif.     , 
PM.  IAH  21.  ^°8 


